Chapters:

'Salem
shall not be pleased about this, Sachaih.' Arithe Vinhalen said
to his brother with a troubled note in his tone. Sachaih nodded
and rubbed his red-raw eyes with the back of his rough hand. He
was beginning to feel dizzy and disorientated.

'Yes, I know
brother, I know.'

Blistered masses
were beginning to form above his eyelids as the burning icodeane
started to soak into his skin. The toxic liquid kept spreading
across his face until his nose and cheeks grew dry and irritated
and the pupils of his eyes felt as if they were ablaze with fire
hotter than the depths of hell.

Unaware of his
brother's severe discomfort, Arithe continued pacing up and down
the dark, musty cellar of which they stood; His heavy, black
combat boots crunching on the uneven surface.

'We'll be sent to
the crossroads, Sachaih!' He exclaimed with grief.

'That will not be,
brother, I shall make certain of that' Sachaih said painfully.
Arithe stopped pacing and threw his arms in the
air.

'But how can one be
sure? We have broken almost every law in the book of Divide! When
Salem is informed, we shall be banished! Or worse.'

'Brother, we are the
only remaining of the Vinhalen clan; we are Das Naite of the
Divide. We are Hellboys! Nothing too terrible will become of us,
I am sure.' with some effort, Sachaih lifted his head to stare
directly into the piercing black of Arith è's eyes.

'I Hope you are
correct, Sachaih,' Arithe said, shaking his head. 'Or we are
done.'

Chapter One -
The Devil's prodigy

Lord
Salem watched on with a sadistic smirk as his Dark Knights threw
another screaming soul into the burning pit of fire. He listened
to the crackling and splitting of flesh as the flames engulfed
its victim and swallowed them whole, the screech of excruciating
agony only making him smile more. Salem waited for the Hellboys
to rejoin him and praised them when they came.

'Indeed…' Salem
mused. 'I hope you both will be available, as another is due to
be executed in the next day or so - the filthy, ungrateful
sinners.'

'We will do as you
wish, Sir.' They both said in emotionless unison.

Salem nodded. 'Well,
you both may leave now. Find Xara. She has some errands for you
both to run in the Otherworld... Such a nice day for it, too' He
looked around his domain with closely observant eyes, admiring
the rocky walls and the large, endlessly deep cracks in the earth
of which spilled out billows of heat and rained ashes of the
dead. Narrow walkways that formed from the walls lined the space
above them where the sweating, lower ranking Hellboys worked -
Shoveling rocks and shifting dirt to be used as building material
for separation walls and hand-made storage caves in the future.
Along the edges of the bottom floor were tall, pointed
stalagmites and iron barred cells holding terrified prisoners -
most of them being deceased Humans of whom had misused their
lives in the Otherworld. This was, for lack of a better word,
Hell, and they were all more than likely on death-row, awaiting
their permanent demise.

The Knights bowed to
their unrighteous master and sullenly turned to leave. Salem eyed
the two with a satisfactory expression as they disappeared from
his line of vision. Despite their rigid, disciplined facade, He
knew exactly what they were thinking. He knew what all
of his Das Naite were thinking. It was ever so obvious that they
felt bound and restricted by the order that he had on Hell,
because that was his aim - his vision, Complete and Utmost
control. And, he certainly hadn't failed in that respect.
Pandemonium was a place of Demons, or, to be more accurate,
Hellboys. They lived and worked serving as slaves, enduring
various forms of hard and often painful labor under the command
and watchful eye of Lord Salem himself. Depending on the
bloodline, some Hellboys were chosen to be put through intensive
training, even against their will, with the possibility of
becoming part of a select group, otherwise known as the sons of
Das Naite or, Knights of darkness when translated into more
current terms. For those who succeeded, a lengthened lifetime of
difficult tasks and challenges with honorable rewards awaited
them in the future. They would perform executions, and give
secondhand orders to keep things running smoothly. Occasionally,
Knights would be sent to the otherworld, where they would subtly
help along the wicked to their death. But most importantly, they
would fight. Fight to keep hell protected, and to keep Salem
safe. After all, if Salem were to fall, quite literally, all hell
would break loose.

***

Zaire Vasili
clenched his fists as he walked. He felt the anger and turmoil
boiling inside of him, twisting in his gut and clawing at his
conscience, just waiting to explode in a rush of violence. He let
out heavy, grunting breaths as if trying to console himself into
calming down. A step behind him, Dexter Chary eyed him
warily.